We are in mourning with one of our favorites, country music legend Dolly Parton, after her beloved husband Carl Dean, who she was married to for nearly 60 years, died on Monday.
He was 82 years-old.
Dean Passes Away – Parton Responds
Carl Dean famously shied away from the limelight during his lifetime, a decision Dolly respected.
Dean’s death was announced on Parton’s official Instagram page.
“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82,” the post read. “He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He is survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie.”
Parton, 79, then added a brief statement of her own.
“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” she said. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”
Dean’s History With Parton
Dean, who was known for being intensely private despite being married to one of the most famous women in the world, was born in Nashville in 1942. Little is known about his life before he met an 18 year-old Parton at a Nashville laundromat in 1964. Parton had just moved to the Tennessee city to pursue her country music dreams.
In fact, it was her first day in the big city when they fatefully crossed paths, which is amazing.
“I’d come to Nashville with dirty clothes,” Parton recalled to The New York Times in 1976. “I was in such a hurry to get here. And after I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just lookin’ at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved. Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.”
In a rare 2016 statement, Dean recounted meeting Parton from his own perspective.
“My first thought was ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,'” Dean told Entertainment Tonight. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”
What an incredibly lucky man.
Related: Dolly Parton Reveals Her Secret Behind Avoiding Arguments With Husband Of 58 Years
Dean And Parton’s Mutual Respect
Parton and Dean married in 1966. She soon skyrocketed to fame and became the country music icon that she is today. Though Parton was known for her sex appeal, this never seemed to bother Dean.
“He’s not jealous, and I’m not either,” Parton told People Magazine in 1981. “Carl is the one man in my life. I would love to grow old with him. If he should die first, I may never marry again. My love is that deep.”
Dean spent most of his time at the large home he shared with Parton in Tara, just outside Nashville. There, Dean enjoyed buying and reselling trucks and tractors.
“He likes his freedom,” Parton said in 1982. “If I call him, that’s fine, he ain’t expectin’ it. He doesn’t like me home for long because it interferes with his tradin’. So we never really have any hold on each other. And yet we have the ultimate hold.”
Related: Dolly Parton Reveals Real Reason Her Husband Of 57 Years Stays Out Of The Spotlight
Dean Stayed Out Of The Spotlight
Despite his wife’s love for attention, Dean always preferred to stay out of the spotlight. Parton respected this and gave him the privacy that he craved.
“He’s always supporting me as long as I don’t try to drag him in on it,” she explained in 2019. “He’s always been my biggest fan behind the scenes, but he’s at home.”
In 2021, Parton reflected about the decades that she shared with Dean.
“My husband and I, we’ve been together 56 years,” she gushed at the time. “We’ve just been married 54 years this past May. But we still have our little times, like in the springtime when the first yellow daffodils come out. Even if there’s still some snow around it, my husband always brings me a bouquet. And he’ll usually write me a little poem. Which to me, that’s priceless.”
Parton and Dean never had children of their own. Dean is survived by his wife and two sisters.
Please join us in saying a prayer for Parton during this difficult time. Rest in peace, Carl Dean.
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